Rob Farley : book reviewhttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/archive/tags/book+review/default.aspxTags: book reviewenCommunityServer 2.1 SP2 (Build: 61129.1)SQL Server MVP Deep Dives Vol 2 – get my chapter freehttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/archive/2011/09/29/sql-server-mvp-deep-dives-vol-2-get-my-chapter-free.aspxThu, 29 Sep 2011 04:55:50 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:38779Rob Farley2http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/comments/38779.aspxhttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/commentrss.aspx?PostID=38779http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=38779<p>Yes, the <a href="http://www.manning.com/nielsen/" target="_blank">SQL book</a> I was involved in two years ago <a href="http://www.manning.com/delaney" target="_blank">has a sequel</a>.</p> <p>In the first book, I wrote chapters 7 and 40, and was one of 53 MVPs that contributed. And the proceeds went to War Child. Yes, none of the MVPs who wrote, edited, etc, got any royalties – that all went to charity.</p> <p>This time, I wrote just one chapter (chapter 2), but there have been at least seventy MVPs involved. Sixty chapters all by different MVPs, with more MVPs involved as section editors, technical editors and more. And the money this time goes to <a href="http://www.operationsmile.org/" target="_blank">Operation Smile</a>, another international children’s charity.</p> <p>It’s being published in time for the PASS Summit (which is now less than two weeks away), and there will be a book signing for people who have their copies already. You can pre-order through the Manning website at <a title="http://www.manning.com/delaney/" href="http://www.manning.com/delaney/">http://www.manning.com/delaney/</a>, but if you do this, you might not have it for the signing. With most of the authors present, you might prefer to try your luck at picking up a copy at the Summit if you can make it.</p> <p>If you’re not going to be at the Summit, then notice that you can pre-order the book and that this gets you an Early Access Edition – an electronic copy of some of the chapters as they become available.</p> <p>But my chapter is different again – you can download it for FREE. No strings attached. You’ll see a link on the page to my chapter, and can enjoy it straight away, without having to pay anything at all.</p> <p>I’m sure I will have missed someone in this list, but I have to provide it because it’s just so extraordinary. The list of MVPs I know were involved includes:</p> <p>Johan <strong>Ahlen</strong>, Gogula <strong>Aryalingam</strong>, Glenn <strong>Berry</strong>, Aaron <strong>Bertrand</strong>, Kevin <strong>Boles</strong>, Robert <strong>Cain</strong>, Tim <strong>Chapman</strong>, Denny <strong>Cherry</strong>, Michael <strong>Coles</strong>, Rod <strong>Colledge</strong>, John Paul <strong>Cook</strong>, Louis <strong>Davidson</strong>, Kalen <strong>Delaney</strong>, Dave <strong>Dustin</strong>, Rob <strong>Farley</strong>, Grant <strong>Fritchey</strong>, Denis <strong>Gobo</strong>, Darren <strong>Gosbell</strong>, Sergio <strong>Govoni</strong>, Allan <strong>Hirt</strong>, Victor <strong>Isakov</strong>, Satya Shyam K <strong>Jayanty</strong>, Tibor <strong>Karaszi</strong>, Jungsun <strong>Kim</strong>, Tobiasz <strong>Koprowski</strong>, Hugo <strong>Kornelis</strong>, Ted <strong>Krueger</strong>, Matija <strong>Lah</strong>, Rodney <strong>Landrum</strong>, Greg <strong>Larsen</strong>, Peter <strong>Larsson</strong>, Andy <strong>Leonard</strong>, Ami <strong>Levin</strong>, Greg <strong>Low</strong>, John <strong>Magnabosco</strong>, Jennifer <strong>McCown</strong>, Brad <strong>McGehee</strong>, Siddharth <strong>Mehta</strong>, Ben <strong>Miller</strong>, Allan <strong>Mitchell</strong>, Tim <strong>Mitchell</strong>, Luciano <strong>Moreira</strong>, Jessica <strong>Moss</strong>, Aaron <strong>Nelson</strong>, Paul <strong>Nielsen</strong>, Shahriar <strong>Nikkhah</strong>, Robert <strong>Pearl</strong>, Boyan <strong>Penev</strong>, Pedro <strong>Perfeito</strong>, Pawel <strong>Potasinski</strong>, Mladen <strong>Prajdic</strong>, Abolfazl <strong>Radgoudarzi</strong>, Paul <strong>Randal</strong>, Denis <strong>Reznik</strong>, Rafael <strong>Salas</strong>, Edwin <strong>Sarmiento</strong>, Chris <strong>Shaw</strong>, Gail <strong>Shaw</strong>, Linchi <strong>Shea</strong>, Jen <strong>Stirrup</strong>, Jason <strong>Strate</strong>, Kimberly <strong>Tripp</strong>, Paul <strong>Turley</strong>, Bill <strong>Vaughn</strong>, Mike <strong>Walsh</strong>, Peter <strong>Ward</strong>, Joe <strong>Webb</strong>, John <strong>Welch</strong>, Allen <strong>White </strong>and Thiago <strong>Zavaschi</strong>.</p> <p>Most are authors, some (like Aaron Nelson and Jen Stirrup) were technical editors, and some (like Paul Randal and Kimberly Tripp) were section editors. And Kalen Delaney was the overall editor and responsible for everything.</p> <p>So a big thanks to Manning to make this possible, and to Kalen Delaney for leading the effort.</p> <p>To potential buyers, see it as a series of short stories, and an opportunity to see a little into the minds of many of the industry’s leading lights. </p> <p>And buy a copy – it’s for charity!</p><img src="http://sqlblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=38779" width="1" height="1">book reviewcommunitydeep dives booksqlsqlpassChristian’s book – not just Brent’shttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/archive/2010/06/29/christian-s-book-not-just-brent-s.aspxTue, 29 Jun 2010 04:55:09 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:26544Rob Farley2http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/comments/26544.aspxhttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/commentrss.aspx?PostID=26544http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=26544I like to joke with Christian Bolton ( @christianbolton ) about the time when he got accused of claiming to have written Brent’s book . Of course, he didn’t write Brent’s book – Brent wrote some of Christian’s. And it’s an excellent book. For a start,...(<a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/archive/2010/06/29/christian-s-book-not-just-brent-s.aspx">read more</a>)<img src="http://sqlblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=26544" width="1" height="1">book reviewsqlA whole site for reviewing of SQL Server MVP Deep Diveshttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/archive/2010/03/21/a-whole-site-for-reviewing-of-sql-server-mvp-deep-dives.aspxSun, 21 Mar 2010 11:15:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:23583Rob Farley0http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/comments/23583.aspxhttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/commentrss.aspx?PostID=23583http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=23583<P>This book just keeps amazing me. Not only as I read through some chapters for the first time, and others for the second and third times, but also as I read reviews of it written by other people.</P>
<P>The guys over at <A href="http://sqlperspectives.wordpress.com/" target=_blank>http://sqlperspectives.wordpress.com</A> are a prime example. They’ve been going through each chapter, each writing a review on it, and often getting a guest blogger to write something as well – and they’re clearly getting a lot of stuff out of this brilliant book. Back when I first heard about them doing this, I had offered to be involved, and recently did an interview with them about my chapters (<A href="http://sqlperspectives.wordpress.com/category/chapter-7/" target=_blank>chapter seven</A> and chapter forty). That interview can be found at <A title=http://sqlperspectives.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/interview-with-rob-farley/ href="http://sqlperspectives.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/interview-with-rob-farley/" target=_blank>http://sqlperspectives.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/interview-with-rob-farley/</A> – and covers how I got into databases, and how I think the database roles in the IT industry are changing.</P>
<P>If you don’t have a copy of SQL Server MVP Deep Dives yet, why not get a copy from <A href="http://www.sqlservermvpdeepdives.com/" target=_blank>http://www.sqlservermvpdeepdives.com</A> (or persuade your local bookstore to get some copies in), and read through chapters with these guys? Treat it like a book club, discussing each chapter with others (guest blogging perhaps?), and you’ll probably end up getting even more out of it. Remember that the proceeds of the book go to charity (instead of the authors – we get nothing), so you don’t need to consider that you’re splashing out on a treat for yourself. Think of the kids helped by War Child instead.</P><img src="http://sqlblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=23583" width="1" height="1">book reviewdeep dives bookBook Review - oldie but a goodie - Inside SQL 2005 Query Tuning and Optimizationhttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/archive/2010/02/19/book-review-oldie-but-a-goodie-inside-sql-2005-query-tuning-and-optimization.aspxFri, 19 Feb 2010 06:38:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:22468Rob Farley3http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/comments/22468.aspxhttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/commentrss.aspx?PostID=22468http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=22468<p>I've moved my blog here (to sqlblog.com), and thought I'd start with a book review.</p> <p>This is a post that I've been meaning to write for some time, and it seems a worthy first post for this new site. I might go through some of my older posts from my blog at <a href="http://msmvps.com/blogs/robfarley" target="_blank">msmvps.com</a>, and maybe even my even older blog at <a href="http://robfarley.blogspot.com" target="_blank">blogspot.com</a> and bring them across, but this is most definitely my first post, even if there are others that look older.</p> <p><img style="border-bottom:0px;border-left:0px;display:inline;margin-left:0px;border-top:0px;margin-right:0px;border-right:0px;" title="book cover" border="0" alt="book cover" align="left" src="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/image_214FFB57.png" width="130" height="130" /> This book, &quot;Inside Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005: Query Tuning and Optimization&quot; by <a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kalen_delaney" target="_blank">Kalen Delaney</a> (and others including <a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/adam_machanic/archive/2009/11/30/invitation-to-participate-in-t-sql-tuesday-001-date-time-tricks.aspx" target="_blank">T-SQL Tuesday</a>'s <a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/adam_machanic" target="_blank">Adam Machanic</a>) is still an excellent resource. Even if you've moved across to SQL Server 2008, this book is worth buying and poring over. It is one of those resources that should live on the shelf of every database professional, alongside some of the other classics like Kalen's <a href="http://mspress.com.au/searchresults.aspx?s=a2V5d29yZA==-I7x1ozBkcPY=&amp;k=MDczNTYyNjI0Mw==-Z2/3AAdhf7o=" target="_blank">SQL Server 2008 Internals</a>.</p> <p>Being dedicated to performance tuning, it goes deeper into the topic than some of the other areas, including excellent section on traces and locking (areas which I find most people don't really seem to know much about), in a book which is a lot more compact than it could have been. Considering how much it goes into, the book seems remarkably thin at just 448 pages. If you spend any time tuning SQL Server databases, then this book will feel much thicker than it really is, and you'll be finding useful information on just about every page. The level of understanding you can get it just as deep as many much longer books, but focussed on making your queries run faster.</p> <p>Of course, you will want to have a copy of SQL 2005 with you when you read through the book, and probably a copy of SQL 2008 to be able to look at the things that have changed. But the vast majority of things in this book will serve you well for some time, I'm sure.</p> <p>The link here will help you <a href="http://mspress.com.au/searchresults.aspx?s=a2V5d29yZA==-I7x1ozBkcPY=&amp;k=MDczNTYyMTk2OQ==-zFKLoJdTnC0=" target="_blank">find the book on MSPress' Australian site</a>. I'll also give away a copy of it at a future <a href="http://www.sqlserver.org.au" target="_blank">Adelaide SQL Server User Group</a> event, so if you're in Adelaide, make sure you keep your eye out for that.</p><img src="http://sqlblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=22468" width="1" height="1">book review